If you’re not impressed with these numbers, keep in mind that a single frisbee route is in the range between 70 and 90 feet. In a single session, Baxter will run around 50 routes, and Robah around 30 routes. That’s the equivalent of Baxter sprinting a mile-and-a-half. Robah runs close to a mile during a session. Our poor grass.

Here’s a diagram that illustrates our playing field:

I did, however, have to pull Robah aside today and talk to him about never taking a play (or throw) off. It’s not that he has a bad attitude or the kind of prima donna approach to the game that seems so common among today’s elite receivers. But, there are times when he doesn’t finish a route and he’s been known to take his disc to his favorite patch of grass and rest for awhile in the middle of a session. His brother Baxter, aka Psycho B, is a frisbee-chasing machine; his motor never stops. I wonder how Roy Williams handles it when Hansbrough is running circles around a teammate in practice.

I haven’t set up the camera to record Bax and Robah snagging frisbees, but Katie did capture Baxter’s weird sleeping position a couple of weeks ago:

There is other Burns family scoop — Eric proposed to Sarah recently and she accepted. We’re very excited for them. Anyone who knows them knows what a good couple they are, and what a good wife and husband combo they will make.

Congratulations you two crazy kids!

There was ice in the mountains...the picture doesn't do justice to the rocks on her finger.

My apologies to Nana. It’s been nearly three weeks since I posted any Jackienews here on ITISTDFM (if other blogs can go by initialisms, then so can mine). If it had only been a couple of weeks, I would blame a new work project and other distractions for the gap, but three weeks is too long.

The weekend before last was spent in the North Carolina mountains with the Burns clan. Special thanks go out to Ben & Janet for the wonderful accommodations. It was Jackie’s introduction to her great grandmother and great aunt, and I’m sure they enjoyed meeting her as much as she enjoyed meeting them. I’ve posted a video and some pictures.

Note to the grandmothers: More Jackie news is forthcoming. Check back on Monday.

This post is exclusively Jackie. As you can see in the videos, she’s really starting to verbalize. She still hasn’t mastered the words, “cool whip.” Practice makes perfect.

Eating time comes after sleeping time, and after sleeping time comes playtime. Playtime occurs on a very cool jungle mat (including lights, toys, and music) that Rich and Mindy gave us. Two distinct activities make up a typical playtime session with Jackie. First, Jackie lies on her back for about 20 minutes and looks up at the colorful toys, squirming back and forth and sometimes reaching for a hanging stuffed animal. Second, Jackie is rolled over on her stomach for tummy time, which is not nearly as fun or relaxing. She still doesn’t really like being face down. The video below captures the first half of playtime, and not the second, less enjoyable half. There’s also a Baxter cameo.

Katie and I don’t claim to be expert parents. Our decisions about our daughter have been a mix of bad and good, and as a result, we’ve ridden the emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows that most parents experience during the first couple of months. If our parenting skills were ever evaluated by an objective observer, I’m confident that our evaluation would read like this:

They are competent as parents. They have really good taste in music. And most importantly, whether a parental decision earns them a black eye or a feather in their cap, their parenting is motivated by love for their daughter.

Now that I’ve shown how humble we are, allow me to brag on my wife. I came home from a long day documenting technology in RTP, and Katie treats me to the meal pictured below.

Grown-up dinner for real

This was the menu:

Pan-seared salmon with a homemade Greek yogurt sauce

Haricot verts

Roasted potatoes with seasonal herbs

Sparkling white wine

Double fudge brownies with Mayfield ice cream (not pictured)

So, just in case Katie isn’t an early frontrunner for 2009 mother of the year, consider this a nomination. Three cheers for the cook:

Nana was with us last weekend, and she brought Burns family relafriend Judy Hall along for the ride. For those who might not know, a relafriend is a friend who is treated by a family as their relative (did Shannon Martin coin this term?). Nana and Judy got in a little late Friday night, but if Nana was tired from a long week of teaching followed by a six-hour drive, it wasn’t obvious when she arrived. I think she got her second wind when she pulled up to our house and saw her granddaughter through the front window. I have to give Nana credit though; as she made her bee-line from the car to the baby, she stopped long enough to give hug Katie and me hello. We all really enjoyed having Judy here too. Unlike the majority of our first-time visitors, she found Baxter and Robah to be more amusing than annoying.

Last Saturday, Katie, Jackie, Nana, Judy, and I hopped in Nana’s minivan and headed west on I-40. I drove the minivan, which wasn’t nearly as distressing an experience as I thought that it would be ten years ago. I can see why new parents give up form for a functional “living room on wheels” as my friend Jay calls his van. My Aunt Carolyn, and her sons Will and Ryan, hosted all the local Watsons at their house in Burlington. The food was great, and catching up with the 20 or so Watsons in attendance was even better. Jackie met some of her extended family, received several gifts, and sat in between both her grandmothers for awhile that afternoon. I’ve added an assortment of pictures from the day below.

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Image from Raleigh

I took this post-apocalyptic picture outside Jones Barber Shop in Raleigh last year.